Ben Cherington charting champs' path for next season

Credit: Matthew West

Red Sox GM Ben Cherington, left, and manager John Farrell could be without the services of center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who is now a free agent. (Staff file photo by Matthew West)

ORLANDO, Fla. — The World Series, as Ben Cherington made clear, is over.

Now it’s on to the work of 2014.

Moments after being named the Sporting News Executive of the Year last night, Cherington was breaking down the start of the offseason and what the general manager hopes is the next great Red Sox team, after the one he just built.

“Obviously you think a lot about winning, getting into the postseason and doing well in the postseason,” Cherington said. “That’s something we talk about all the time and think about all the time and are working towards all the time. Thankfully we were able to do that this year.”

Though Cherington doesn’t anticipate the Red Sox will act as quickly this year as they did last year — they made their first signing, catcher David Ross, at these very same GM meetings — there are still topics to discuss.

• Let’s start with the three free agents tendered $14.1 million qualifying offers. Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, first baseman Mike Napoli and shortstop Stephen Drew all officially declined them and became free agents.

Cherington said all three remain in the team’s plans, and added that he has touched base with all of them, as well as free agent catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who did not receive a qualifying offer. He would not say if he had made any of them a concrete offer.

“There’s real interest, but nothing more than that,” Cherington said. “We’ve had conversations with all four.”

• Of the four, Napoli seems mostly likely to return, since Ellsbury has earned the right to a massive payday and Drew will seek a contract of at least three years.

WEEI.com reported yesterday that Napoli’s postseason MRI revealed no damage to his hips, which suffer from a degenerative condition that has yet to affect him. Cherington wouldn’t directly confirm that report, since Napoli is technically no longer a member of the team, but it wasn’t hard to infer the team feels good about his physical state.

“The most important thing I think is he played a full year and had no issues,” Cherington said. “We don’t have any reason to have any more concern than we did last winter. We absolutely have interest in having him back and we’ll keep talking to him.”

• There’s a belief that all the TV money flooding the market — clubs will receive an extra $25 million this year — will move things more cautiously, since no one wants to be the free agent who signed too early and ended up leaving money on the table.

Cherington expects things to move like they always do, though, with the most aggressive offers coming from now until the winter meetings next month, and then the January contracts shifting to more of a buyer’s market.

“Obviously the pool of players is different and we know the teams that have money to spend,” he said. “Time will tell.”

• The catching market should be fascinating, with a number of teams in need of the position and a number of good veterans available. Brian McCann is the prize, but Philadelphia’s Carlos Ruiz will undoubtedly draw some attention, too.

“There’s a bunch of teams that seemingly have a need or a potential need, and there are a bunch of guys out there,” Cherington said. “I think it will be one of the more interesting positions to watch, because there’s likely to be activity there, and potentially some trades, too, not just free agency.”

• On the injury front, Dustin Pedroia will undergo thumb surgery today that is not expected to sideline the second baseman in spring training, while starter Clay Buchholz will participate in a normal throwing program this winter after losing half the season to a shoulder injury.